1. Payroll

“If you think for a second that thumbing through timecards or sifting through computer records in order to complete your payroll is a good use of your time, you have far too much extra time on your hands! There are hundreds of solid and inexpensive payroll companies out there that will make your life considerably simpler. Simple is good, so use your new-found time on marketing strategy.”

2. Appointment Setup

“We use a software company called TimeTrade to handle nearly 100 percent of appointment scheduling. Prospects and customers can use a specific page to set up an appointment that works with their schedule, and it cross-checks the time to make sure that the person requested on our team is available. If all checks out, it handles the communication both ways and ties into our CRM to record the appointment internally.”

3. Bookkeeping

“When we were first getting started, one of the most helpful contractors we found was a bookkeeper. She stopped by once a week and handled all of our payables & receivables. This was a huge time-saver and worth every penny.”

4. CFO Services

“In addition to outsourcing your day-to-day transaction accounting, it also makes sense to hire an outsourced CFO to help with the bigger financial picture. Doing so will afford you the kind of strategic financial guidance you need to build a successful company. An outsourced CFO can help with financial plans, budgeting, forecasting, fundraising, pricing, cash burn analysis, M&A and so much more.”

5. Payroll

“Find a bookkeeper or an outsourced CFO. Even if you can do it yourself, you probably shouldn’t. The amount of time it takes to keep proper financial records and manage a payroll system could be much better invested in your business.”

6. Digitized Tasks

“We run a completely remote company. We have employees in nine different countries, and we wouldn’t run our company any other way. If something can be digitized, then you should find the best person in the world to do it — not just the best person in your local area. With that in mind, any daily recurring tasks that don’t require your input are the best places to start.”

7. Accounting

“CEOs need to focus on the first and best use of their time and delegate or postpone everything else. Too many CEOs think that it’s cheaper for them to “pick up” the seemingly easy task of accounting when, in reality, time and money are wasted in several areas. There are simply too many chances for things to go wrong. As a result, efforts yield very little return.”

10. System Operations

“If you hire a company to handle SYOPS, you’ll get a team that’s on 24/7 and prohibitively expensive for most startups. Technically, we could cancel our data center and hire three people to handle it, but it would be much more costly. Why reinvent the wheel? Use your resources to focus on your product, and outsource what you realistically can.”

Photo Credits

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.